A member leads a cross-functional, strategic digital transformation project to improve working capital management.
Treasury at one multinational corporation is leading a digital transformation project to improve working capital management. At the center of the initiative is a new dashboard, still in its early stages, described in detail at a recent meeting of NeuGroup for EMEA Regional Treasury. Here is a brief overview of the dashboard prepared by the presenter for NeuGroup Insights.
Starting point: aged AR. Treasury began the project by targeting accounts receivable (AR) management and reducing so-called aged AR—unpaid, overdue invoices. Before the dashboard, finance teams had to manually extract and analyze internal data in Excel, which was inefficient.
- To address this, the team first focused on visualizing aged AR in real time, using a technology transformation team to integrate relevant data into a dashboard-supported data lake.
- The dashboard automates the previously manual process, allowing teams to quickly determine which clients to follow up with on invoices, eliminating the need to export data to Excel.
- Cross-functional workshops with stakeholders ensured the tool would track key metrics.
- The dashboard is enhancing access to real-time data for quicker collections, improving working capital. The team has already reduced aged AR significantly.
Collaboration and development. Treasury leads the tool’s development with cross-functional teams, with regular feedback sessions to ensure continuous improvement. Treasury’s strategic leadership role ensures effective collaboration across departments.
- Weekly calls with senior sales and finance leaders allow for real-time discussions on large transactions, helping identify strategies to accelerate cash flow. The dashboard has improved working capital and free cash flow management.
- The team holds quarterly meetings to update regional CFOs, general managers and other key users, maintaining momentum and driving the tool’s evolution.
Future source of truth. Treasury’s vision is to create a single source of truth by expanding the dashboard into a comprehensive system covering all treasury areas, including cash flow forecasting and scenario planning. AI will be integrated to provide real-time insights, such as contract analysis.
- The tech transformation leader estimates the company is only 10% of the way through its journey.
